Dualism in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

             The gothic novel emerges by the end of the 18th century as a reflection of repression'; as a rebellion of the imagination against the tyranny of reason of the Enlightment. However, there are many different stages in the development of a gothic tradition - from the illuministic gothic to a more internalised psychological narrative. As the gothic suffers transformations, it goes deeper within itself in order to deal with psychological problems used to dramatise the character's uncertainties and conflicts when faced with a difficult social situation. (Jackson: 99). .
             Dualism is a fundamental theme in the 19th century gothic and it is one of the literary myths' produced by the desire of otherness' during that period. Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is perhaps one of the most famous examples of 19th century literature of the double' in which an individual is split into two or more contrasting personalities or haunted by a shadow' figure who may be a repressed part of himself. Even though the novel can be read in a number of ways, I aim at, via quotes from the text, showing that the novel is neither about two different people or even two people that dwell inside one man, but one man with two impulses roaring to be heard inside of him. Thus, the term double refers to the essential duality within a single character on the further presumption that the duality centers on the polarity of good and evil.
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             I considered important to begin by distinguishing the terms used in many texts by many different authors and which I even used in the introduction of this paper to refer to the subject in question. Particularly, when doing my research, I found out that some chose the word Doppelganger, others just Double or Split personality, and since the terms are not that identical, I felt the need for them to be defined at the outset. .
             The term Doppelganger is defined in The Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced learners (2002) as "1 someone who looks like someone else- 2 "a spirit that some people believe looks like someone who is alive-.